For an autónomo or a small SL, the devengo decides which quarter each transaction is reported in. What counts is the date you deliver the goods or finish the service, not the date you issue the invoice or the date you get paid.
The practical consequence: an invoice you have issued but not collected still goes into the modelo 303 for the quarter of its accrual, unless you are under the cash accounting scheme (criterio de caja). The accrual date also fixes which VAT rate applies if rates change between the operation and the payment.
A common example: you finish a project at the end of a quarter and the client pays you weeks later. You pay the VAT on that invoice in the quarter you finished the work, even though you do not have the money yet. The typical mistake is reporting by collection date, which throws off the modelo 303 and the annual summary. If the client pays part in advance, that advance triggers VAT when you receive it, and the final invoice covers only the rest.
The idea also shows up in other taxes: for personal income tax and corporate tax, income and expenses are allocated, as a general rule, to the year in which they accrue. kontora records each invoice by its transaction date in double entry bookkeeping.
Guides that use this term
- How to fill in modelo 111 box by box: 2026 instructions with a worked example
- How to fill in modelo 130 box by box: instructions and a four-quarter worked example
- Factura rectificativa (corrective invoice) in Spain: when it is mandatory, how to issue it and how to report it on the modelo 303
- How to fill in the modelo 303 box by box: a practical 2026 guide with a worked example
- How to fill in the modelo 390 box by box: instructions, a full-year example and how to reconcile it with your 303 returns
Related terms
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